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Melek Taus
Melek Taus is a member of Giovanni's Seven Champions and the only member of the seven to lose their Free Will and go rogue. Melek started his life with the group as a Tengu, but after his first death, was reincarnated Human, which has remained his form since. Over time, he has transitioned from a Paragon of Order, a Paladin of Kakaysia, into a cold, calculating Inquisitor who considers ends before means. Despite this, his old morality remains in place, leading to a lot of internal conflict and emotional vulnerability with the other six Champions of Giovanni. Particularly, he found closeness with Tamuril Alba-Acerbi, Vanja Lykke, and Warg, due to a similarity in world views and methodology. Melek is thematically associated with contradiction, sacrifice and hypocrisy, which has manifested itself in a few ways, such as his struggle with alcoholism, lycanthropy and the concept of Personal Liberty vs Collective Progress. He wields a traditional Zweihander, inherited from a deceased older brother, Johannes, but has been seen with a silver copy of the prior sword, as well as a Warhammer. Originally, the Zweihander was chosen for the fact that it is still an effective weapon when striking with the flat, allowing for non-lethal takedowns of opponents. More recently, however, this has transitioned into an effective tool for violent crowd control. Early Life Tengu consider the year the Diluvians arrived, the Year of the Great Consuming Threat, to be 4736 - they do not count in ages, as they have never experienced such a violent societal upheaval. Melek was born in 4699, born of his parents, Reich (Father) and Fretel (Mother), in the south-eastern island city of Derevi, to a brood of two other brothers and two sisters, he being the runt of the nest, using his guile to guide him rather than natural strength, though looked up to his brother Johannes, who was the strongest of the siblings. While the rest of the nest ignored him, Johannes kept Melek under his metaphorical wing, and they were inseparable. Around the age of 14, the pair began to find their own murder of friends, avoiding the family home as often as they could and staying out till all hours. This habit got worse as time progressed, and by the time the two were 16 they were involved in a gang called the Corsairs - stealing from the outlying island villages and occasionally making their way to the mainland to deal with bigger families. Melek’s role in the group was to use his natural talking talents to distract people, while the quicker and more deft members relieved the mark of their wallets. In the winter of 4715, Johannes suggested another routine trip to the coastal port of Cambrain to fleece some of the tourists who’d be turning up to the annual Kakaysian Worship Festival, Ka'Karori. The Ka'Karori is a festival where the mass worshippers (and some foreign spectators) collect together to praise Kakaysia and her wisdom, usually through the representation of six focus individuals, refered to as Ka'Karifers, who signify one of the six different aspects of Kakaysia’s divinity - the Ka'Kari. The plan was to find a foreign businessman or similar millionaire, follow them to their hotel room and take anything of value - watches, radio sets, laptops - anything that they could pocket, and leave before the man got home. They found an Khalivausian-toned human with questionable funding, by the name of Charles Dondarrion, and followed him back to his hotel, sneaking in with a cracked key-card once he’d left. It was a ten-minute in and out job, but the man came back with two Warforged bodyguards not five minutes after they’d entered the hotel room, and the ensuing fight was a near-massacre. Johannes was beaten to a pulp, and everyone was dragged out of the room into a van waiting by the roadside. They were tied and drove away onto a ferry, with nothing but the darkness and their furious expletives through the gags for company. Johannes died of internal haemorrhaging shortly afterwards, with Melek claiming the 6ft long iron pole Johannes carried with him on every burgling trip. Charles Dondarrion turned out to be quite involved in the organised crime community, and killed every member of the Corsairs, save for Melek, who never raised a fist against him, or looked at him anywhere but his eyes. Charles respected obedience more than he respected anything else, even his own family, to the point where, after two years of keeping him for ransom (which was never responded to) Charles decided to train Melek instead, allowing him to have his brothers iron staff re-forged into a more traditional yet exotic weapon - the Khalivarian Zweihander, inlaid with traditional Tengu and Kakaysian hymns, to make it a little more personal. Melek travelled the unclaimed Eastern territories of the Northern continent with Charles as a personal bodyguard, wandering through what used to be Fae wastes - he served as not only a swordsman (not a fantastic warrior, but lucky), but as a translator too, as Tengu have a natural gift with languages. By the time he was 20, Melek knew 12 different languages, including the extinct Fae and Draconic. Charles kept him closer and closer, beginning to enjoy his company and trust him as a friend. Eventually, the Warforged were sent back to the capital city of the North, Lysjord, for the Great Dictator Giovanni to assess their memories, repair them, and grant them back to Charles for the rest of the reconnaissance mission that they were taking a decade to perform. Over the years, Melek had discovered that, alongside his organised crime connections, Charles Dondarrion supported the expansionist ways of the northern empire, and was researching the outer lands so that the borders could be extended. So when Charles watched the unnamed Warforged guards being transported back to Lysjord on the shuttle-train service, Melek raised the Zweihander, and cleaved the man in two, finally experiencing his revenge for Johannes. Now 22, and alone, Melek rediscovered the love for his people and their culture, particularly the ever-watchful Goddess Kakaysia, who unlike the others, never interfered with the actions of mortals. Melek reasoned the Kakaysia believed in him as much as he believed in her, and with everything he’d learned about Giovanni’s expansionist ideals, he had to protect his people - he was in a position that nobody else he knew had been granted. He’d done the reconnaissance, he knew the plans, all he needed was the training and influence to defend his culture. Pledging his allegiance to his Goddess, Melek began his training, writing down ten Tenets to live his life by. # Personal Worship should be reserved for Kakaysia and Kakaysia alone. # One should pray to Kakaysia before every battle, if unavailable, one should offer prayer afterwards. # One should never be intoxicated; it causes one to be unready for battle. # One should not maintain a relationship with a child-killer. # Make an honest living by lawful work. # One shall not steal, form dubious associations or engage in gambling. # I will protect the lives of my allies against all evil and harm. Hopefully, together, we can make the world a better place. # If one of my allies are evil, they shall only be my ally for as long as they serve the greater good. # The innocent and the poor should be defended and supported at all costs. # If an institution supports evil, that institution should not be considered lawful, as they do not follow the supreme law, that of compassion. He was the sword arm of his beliefs; not a converting menace, but a defender for all the weak, and all those who would be taken advantage of by people like Charles, Giovanni and, yes, even his beloved brother Johannes. However, he felt the guilt of Charles’ death, even though he believed it was justified, so pledged to only kill when absolutely necessary. For years Melek wandered the jungles, mountains and rivers of the southern continent, entreating with the Elves, the Dwarrows of the South, enjoying the company of the plant-races like the Myocin and the Ueffnik. He kept on the road and out of dangers way, unless another called for help. It was on this pilgrammage that he lost his eye and the majority of the fingers on his left hand, in a fight with some kind of unseen river monster, trying to help some Elven children. The children were the son of an electronics merchant, so attempted to help him by contacting a grafter in the city of Dusk, who made a prosthetic for Melek, allowing him to wield his weapon properly. He was 36 when he returned home, hearing of strange tidings on the shores of Derevi and their fishing straights - black oil was creeping into the rockpools and waters of the inner shore, and those who touched it later turned grotesque and violent. He returned to fix the problem and, failing that, help to purge it, but what he found when he arrived was a city overrun by the newly landed menace of The Tomb. All out war had broken and the consuming threat were doing just that. He found his parents, now old and retired, standing over them, defending them until they in turn turned on him, corrupted by the oil. He fought for as long as he could, before leaving the city, vowing to return. Upon his departure, he found some scouting Warforged from Giovanni’s forces, attempting to fight the threat off, and, taking a while to consider his options, set off towards Lysjord to confront the man in person, offering his services for as long as their goals coalesced. Upon meeting Giovanni, he made it no secret that he would rather end the man, and that should their paths cross after their co-operation, he would attempt just that. Life with the Champions The beginning of Melek's journey with the champions was rocky - personality-wise, the groups were incompatible, and Melek was replacing a party member who was both well respected and potentially in mortal danger. His first excursion with them took them deep into the Mycopian jungle, where they came to blows within the first day of their companionship, after Melek stopped to bury the corpses of those he'd slain in combat.